Unable to setup Windows Hello: "it looks like you've already setup Windows Hello on another account."

Question

I suddenly find my Windows Hello has stopped working on my Surface Pro 4. So I remove it and try to setup again.

However, it displayed "Something went wrong: it looks like you've already setup Windows Hello on another account Remove face recognition from your other account and then try again."

Which other account is it referring to? I am only using Windows Hello on my own account, but on 2 Surface Pros. It used to work just now, if there a new bug/feature that prevents us from using Windows Hello on 2 PCs using the same account?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi Guys, 

I have been having issues over the past 7 days with this, and you could say I know a thing or two about Windows 10.

I have carried out the following procedure on both of my machines now and they worked a treat first time.

Use the follwing below at your own risk, I always recommend taking a backup.

1, Remove Windows Hello Pin.

2, Stop the The Windows biometric service under services.

(I unplugged my USB IR camera to stop this, you may need to uninstall the inbuilt camera drivers to stop yours)

3, Browse to C:\Windows\System32\WinBioDatabase\ and delete all entries, I had two for two user accounts.

4, Restart computer

5, Plug camera back in or reinstall drivers for inbuilt web camera.

6, Restart computer

7, Log in with account password, setup Hello by creating a Pin first.

8, Setup face recognition within Windows Hello

Answer 2

Hello Tony,

The issue you're experiencing with setting up the Windows Hello can be caused by a conflict with a recently installed application, driver, or update. To narrow down the issue, we'd like to ask a few questions:

• Were there any changes made on your computer settings prior to this issue?
• Which version of Windows 10 are you currently running? To check your build, go to Start > Settings > System > About.

Meanwhile, you can refer to the How to fix software issues section in this article for troubleshooting steps suitable for software issues on Surface devices.

We look forward to your response.

Answer 3

Thanks for the reply.

You are right, I am running into the same issue again.

May I leave my feedback here? I am a bit surprised Windows Hello is not working from time to time. Especially I am using a Microsoft hardware. If this is an emergency issue, 2 weeks is a rather long time to wait for an update.

What are the other known issues of the Fall Creators Update? Can users be notified proactively instead of spending time trouble-shooting?

Thanks.

Answer 4

Thank you for the information you provided. It's likely that you're experiencing an emerging issue in the Windows 10 Fall Creators update which affects a small number of devices. The update to resolve this issue is planned in mid-November and will be installed automatically via Windows Update.

Meanwhile, we suggest that you use your PIN or password to sign into Windows. Once the update is installed via Windows Update (in mid-November), face authentication should work again.

We're just here if you need further assistance.

Answer 5

I am running with the latest Fall Creators Update. 

Edition: Windows 10 Pro

Version: 1709

OS Build: 1629919

I haven't remembered any change to my system, except from the auto Windows update, if there's any.

I have just tried again and this time it worked. It looked it was a transient issue.

I did reboot a few times before and it didn't fix the issue. So it may be network or server related.